Sharing and using search results

ABSTRACT

A system receives a search query from a user and searches a corpus of documents using the received search query to determine a set of search results. The system provides the set of search results to the user and receives a request from the user to save one or more selected search results of the set of search results. The system saves the selected one or more results in a database in response to the request and uses the saved one or more results as indicators of search result quality for subsequent related searches.

RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims priority to U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/132,362, filed May 19, 2005, which claims priority to provisional application No. 60/666,524, filed Mar. 31, 2005, the disclosures of which are incorporated by reference herein in their entirety.

BACKGROUND

1. Field of the Invention

Implementations described herein relate generally to information retrieval and, more particularly, to saving results retrieved as a result of a search for information, and using the saved results to affect quality indicators.

2. Description of Related Art

The World Wide Web (“web”) contains a vast amount of information. Locating a desired portion of the information, however, can be challenging. This problem is compounded because the amount of information on the web and the number of new users inexperienced at web searching are growing rapidly.

Search engines attempt to return hyperlinks to web pages in which a user is interested. Generally, search engines base their determination of the user's interest on search terms (called a search query) entered by the user. The goal of the search engine is to provide links to high quality, relevant results (e.g., web pages) to the user based on the search query. Typically, the search engine accomplishes this by matching the terms in the search query to a corpus of pre-stored web pages (e.g., using an index). Web pages that contain the user's search terms are considered “hits” and are returned to the user as links.

SUMMARY

According to one aspect, a method may include receiving a search query from a user and searching a corpus of documents using the received search query to determine a set of search results. The method may further include providing the set of search results to the user and receiving a request from the user to save one or more selected search results of the set of search results. The method may also include saving the selected one or more search results in a database in response to the request and using the saved one or more search results as indicators of search result quality for subsequent related searches.

According to another aspect, a method may include receiving a search query from a user and providing a set of search results to the user based on the search query. The method may further include receiving a request from the user to save one or more selected search results of the set of search results and saving the selected one or more search results in a database in response to the request. The method may also include using the saved one or more search results to ascertain information about the received search query.

According to a further aspect, a method may include searching a corpus of documents using a search query to produce search results and saving one or more of the search results in a data structure in response to a user request. The method may further include using the saved one or more search results to affect quality scores associated with the one or more search results.

According to another aspect, a method may include receiving a selection of search results from a set of search results presented to a user in response to a search query. The method may further include saving the selected search results and using the saved one or more search results as indicators of search result quality for subsequent related searches.

According to yet another aspect, a method may include receiving a search query from a user and determining a ranked list of documents based on the received search query. The method may further include adjusting the ranked list of documents based on previously saved search results relating to the search query and providing the adjusted ranked list of documents to the user.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification, illustrate one or more embodiments of the invention and, together with the description, explain the invention. In the drawings,

FIG. 1 is an exemplary diagram of an overview of an implementation of the invention in which a user requests that selected results from a search of a corpus of documents be saved by a server that includes a search engine;

FIG. 2 is an exemplary diagram of a network in which systems and methods consistent with the principles of the invention may be implemented;

FIG. 3 is an exemplary diagram of a client or server of FIG. 2 according to an implementation consistent with the principles of the invention;

FIG. 4 is a diagram of an exemplary data structure for storing search results consistent with an implementation of the invention;

FIG. 5 is a flowchart of an exemplary process for saving the results of a document search in response to the request of a user according to an implementation consistent with the principles of the invention;

FIG. 6 is a diagram of an exemplary search document consistent with an aspect of the invention;

FIG. 7 is a diagram of an exemplary search result document consistent with an aspect of the invention;

FIG. 8 is a flowchart of an exemplary process for accessing search results stored at a server consistent with implementations of the invention;

FIG. 9 is a diagram of an exemplary saved result document consistent with an aspect of the invention;

FIGS. 10A-10C are flowcharts of an exemplary process for analyzing search results saved by a server in response to requests from users consistent with implementations of the invention;

FIG. 11 is an exemplary diagram that depicts boosting quality scores associated with results saved by multiple users;

FIG. 12 is an exemplary diagram that depicts boosting quality scores associated with types of results saved by multiple users;

FIG. 13 is an exemplary diagram that depicts using saved advertisements to evaluate whether a given advertisement has been targeted well for a given search query;

FIG. 14 is an exemplary diagram that depicts the evaluation of an order in which search results are saved;

FIG. 15 is an exemplary diagram that depicts altering quality scores associated with saved search results based on when certain search results are deleted from the saved results;

FIG. 16 is an exemplary diagram that depicts altering quality scores associated with saved search results that are shared between users;

FIG. 17 is an exemplary diagram that depicts altering quality scores associated with saved search results based on an analysis of a frequency of mailings of certain ones of the saved search results;

FIG. 18 is an exemplary diagram that depicts altering quality scores associated with search results that are similar to search results previously saved by a user;

FIG. 19 illustrates an exemplary process for ranking search result documents using quality scores boosted in accordance with the process illustrated in FIGS. 10A-10C; and

FIG. 20 is an exemplary diagram that depicts the ranking of search result documents using quality scores boosted in accordance with the process illustrated in FIGS. 10A-10C.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The following detailed description of the invention refers to the accompanying drawings. The same reference numbers in different drawings may identify the same or similar elements. Also, the following detailed description does not limit the invention.

After a search engine performs a search of information based on a search query, matching or otherwise relevant information may be presented to a user. The matching information may include different types of search results, such as, for example, web page results, image results, product results, advertisements, etc. Consistent with aspects of the invention, a user issuing a search query may select certain search results from a set of search results for storage in a database that is associated with the search engine performing the search. The search results saved by one or more users may be used as implicit indicators of result quality, and to ascertain information about given search queries. Results saved by users may thus be considered to have higher quality (i.e., to be more relevant) than other results. Aggregated statistics regarding the saved search results may be used as a quality signal (e.g., a query-dependent or a query-independent quality signal) in document ranking functions (along with other quality signals, depending on the implementation).

A “document,” as the term is used herein, is to be broadly interpreted to include any machine-readable and machine-storable work product. A document may include, for example, an e-mail, a web site, a business listing, a file, a combination of files, one or more files with embedded links to other files, a news group posting, a blog, a web advertisement, etc. In the context of the Internet, a common document is a web page. Web pages often include textual information and may include embedded information (such as meta information, images, hyperlinks, etc.) and/or embedded instructions (such as Javascript, etc.). A “link,” as the term is used herein, is to be broadly interpreted to include any reference to/from a document from/to another document or another part of the same document.

Overview

FIG. 1 illustrates an exemplary overview of an implementation of the invention in which a user requests that selected results from a search of a corpus of documents be saved, e.g., by a server that includes a search engine. As shown in FIG. 1, a user at a client 105 may issue a query Q 110 to a search engine 115 hosted at a server (not shown). In response to receipt of query Q 110, search engine 115 may perform a search of a corpus of documents, using existing document searching techniques, to identify documents that match or are relevant to query Q 110. Indications (e.g., links) of the identified documents may be provided to client 105 as the results 120 of the search. After receiving search results 120, the user at client 105 may select one or more of the search results as results to be saved by search engine 115. Client 105 may send a request 125 to search engine 115 to save the search results selected by the user. Upon receipt of request 125, search engine 115 may store the selected search results in a data structure associated with search engine 115 as saved search results 130. The user at client 105 may subsequently access (not shown) saved search results 130 via the server hosting search engine 115. Search engine 115 may also subsequently use saved search results 130 as implicit indicators of document quality and/or to ascertain information about query Q 110 issued by the user.

Exemplary Network Configuration

FIG. 2 is an exemplary diagram of a network 200 in which systems and methods consistent with the principles of the invention may be implemented. Network 200 may include multiple clients 210 connected to one or more servers 220-230 via a network 240. Two clients 210 and two servers 220-230 have been illustrated as connected to network 240 for simplicity. In practice, there may be more or fewer clients and servers. Also, in some instances, a client may perform some functions of a server and a server may perform some functions of a client.

Clients 210 may include client entities. An entity may be defined as a device, such as a wireless telephone, a personal computer, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a lap top, or another type of computation or communication device, a thread or process running on one of these devices, and/or an object executable by one of these devices. Servers 220 and 230 may include server entities that access, fetch, aggregate, process, search, and/or maintain documents in a manner consistent with the principles of the invention. Clients 210 and servers 220 and 230 may connect to network 240 via wired, wireless, and/or optical connections.

In an implementation consistent with the principles of the invention, server 220 may include a search engine system 225 usable by users at clients 210. Server 120 may implement a data aggregation service by crawling a corpus of documents (e.g., web documents), indexing the documents, and storing information associated with the documents in a repository of documents. The data aggregation service may be implemented in other ways, such as by agreement with the operator(s) of data server(s) 230 to distribute their hosted documents via the data aggregation service. Search engine 125 may execute a query, received from a user at a client 210, on the corpus of documents stored in the repository of documents.

Server(s) 230 may store or maintain documents that may be crawled by server 220. Such documents may include data related to published news stories, products, images, user groups, geographic areas, or any other type of data. For example, server(s) 230 may store or maintain news stories from any type of news source, such as, for example, the Washington Post, the New York Times, Time magazine, or Newsweek. As another example, server(s) 230 may store or maintain data related to specific products, such as product data provided by one or more product manufacturers. As yet another example, server(s) 230 may store or maintain data related to other types of web documents, such as pages of web sites.

Network 240 may include one or more networks of any type, including a local area network (LAN), a wide area network (WAN), a metropolitan area network (MAN), a telephone network, such as the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) or a Public Land Mobile Network (PLMN), an intranet, the Internet, a memory device, or a combination of networks. The PLMN(s) may further include a packet-switched sub-network, such as, for example, General Packet Radio Service (GPRS), Cellular Digital Packet Data (CDPD), or Mobile IP sub-network.

While servers 220-230 are shown as separate entities, it may be possible for one of servers 220-230 to perform one or more of the functions of the other one of servers 220-230. For example, it may be possible that servers 220 and 230 are implemented as a single server. It may also be possible for a single one of servers 220 and 230 to be implemented as two or more separate (and possibly distributed) devices.

Exemplary Client/Server Architecture

FIG. 3 is an exemplary diagram of a client or server entity (hereinafter called “client/server entity”), which may correspond to one or more of clients 210 and/or servers 220-230, according to an implementation consistent with the principles of the invention. The client/server entity may include a bus 310, a processor 320, a main memory 330, a read only memory (ROM) 340, a storage device 350, an input device 360, an output device 370, and a communication interface 380. Bus 310 may include a path that permits communication among the elements of the client/server entity.

Processor 320 may include a conventional processor, microprocessor, or processing logic that may interpret and execute instructions. Main memory 330 may include a random access memory (RAM) or another type of dynamic storage device that may store information and instructions for execution by processor 320. ROM 340 may include a conventional ROM device or another type of static storage device that may store static information and instructions for use by processor 320. Storage device 350 may include a magnetic and/or optical recording medium and its corresponding drive.

Input device 360 may include a conventional mechanism that permits an operator to input information to the client/server entity, such as a keyboard, a mouse, a pen, voice recognition and/or biometric mechanisms, etc. Output device 370 may include a conventional mechanism that outputs information to the operator, including a display, a printer, a speaker, etc. Communication interface 380 may include any transceiver-like mechanism that enables the client/server entity to communicate with other devices and/or systems. For example, communication interface 380 may include mechanisms for communicating with another device or system via a network, such as network 240.

The client/server entity, consistent with the principles of the invention, may perform certain operations or processes, as will be described in detail below. The client/server entity may perform these operations in response to processor 320 executing software instructions contained in a computer-readable medium, such as memory 330. A computer-readable medium may be defined as a physical or logical memory device and/or carrier wave.

The software instructions may be read into memory 330 from another computer-readable medium, such as data storage device 350, or from another device via communication interface 380. The software instructions contained in memory 330 may cause processor 320 to perform operations or processes that will be described later. Alternatively, hardwired circuitry may be used in place of or in combination with software instructions to implement processes consistent with the principles of the invention. Thus, implementations consistent with the principles of the invention are not limited to any specific combination of hardware circuitry and software.

Exemplary Saved Results Data Structure

FIG. 4 is an exemplary diagram of a data structure 400 that may be stored in a database (e.g., associated with server 220), and used to store results selected by a user at a client 210. Data structure 400 may include multiple data entries 405, each of which may include an optional user identifier (ID) 410, a query 415, and a set of saved results 420. Optional user identifier 410 may include identification data that uniquely identifies the user, or the client 210, from which the query contained in query 415 originated. Query 415 may include the query issued by the user identified by user ID 410 to search engine system 225. Saved results 420 may include the selected results (e.g., Uniform Resource Locators (URLs) of selected web documents) that the user (identified by user ID 410) requested to be saved from the set of search results provided by search engine system 225 to the user in response to the query 415.

Exemplary Process for Saving Search Results

FIG. 5 is a flowchart of an exemplary process for saving the results of a document search in response to the request of a user. As one skilled in the art will appreciate, the process exemplified by FIG. 5 can be implemented in software and stored on a computer-readable memory, such as main memory 330, ROM 340, or storage device 350 of server 220.

The exemplary process may begin with the receipt of a query Q from a user at a client 210 (block 500). As shown in FIG. 6, the user may enter search query Q into a search document 600 provided by server 220. Search document 600 may include, for example, fields for entering search terms to be used in locating relevant documents (e.g., documents that include the search terms or possibly analogous terms). Search engine system 225 may perform a search, based on the received query Q, to return a set of search results (block 505). Search engine system 225 may search a corpus of documents stored in server(s) 230, or a repository of documents aggregated by server 220. Existing searching techniques may be used to identify documents that include one or more of the search terms of query Q. The search results may be presented to the user at client 210 (block 510). For example, as shown in FIG. 7, a document 705 may be sent to client 210 from which the user issued query Q. Document 705 may display one or more search results 710 that each may include, for example, a link to a corresponding document stored at server (s) 230.

A request selecting one or more of the search results to be saved may be received from the user at client 210 (block 515). As shown in FIG. 7, the user at client 210 may, for example, select one or more of search results 710 by clicking on a “save” button 715 adjacent to a search result. In another implementation (not shown), the user at client 210 may drag-and-drop a selected search result into a “save” icon. Server 220 may receive an indication of each selected search result from client 210 via network 240. The selected results may be associated with query Q (block 520), and then saved (e.g., in the data structure 400). For example, the selected results may be associated with query Q by storing the query Q (e.g., query 415) and the selected search result(s) (e.g., saved results 420) in appropriate fields of an entry 405 of saved results data structure 400. Optionally, the selected results may also be associated with a user identifier corresponding to the user that requested that the selected results be saved. The user identifier may be a pre-assigned global identifier (e.g., a user login name, an Internet Protocol (IP) address, an e-mail address, etc.) that uniquely identifies the user or a unique, anonymous identifier, assigned to the user at the time the selected search results are saved, that is not identifiable back to the user. In such a case, the selected results may be associated with query Q and the user by storing a user identifier (e.g., user ID 410) associated with the user, the query Q (e.g., query 415), and the selected search result(s) (e.g., saved results 420) in appropriate fields of an entry 405 of saved results data structure 400. In one implementation, the user may group together multiple saved search results. For example, the user may drag-and-drop multiple search results into a folder to save them together as a group. In another implementation, the user may label (or annotate), with descriptive text, a single search result, or multiple search results that have been grouped together. The label or annotation may include a one or two word description, or a multiple word description. This label, or annotation, may subsequently be shared with other users and also may be returned with the corresponding search results when the search results are returned as results of a subsequent search for a current user, or other users.

Saved results 420 may be used as indicators of quality and/or to ascertain information about query Q (block 525). For example, the saved results may be used as implicit indicators of document quality, or for determining various types of information about query Q. Further details of the use of the saved results are described below with respect to FIGS. 10A-10C.

Acts 500-520 may be selectively repeated for each query of a query session that may include multiple queries. At the end of the query session, the user may select the best results returned from all of the queries of the query session and save these best results. In one implementation, these saved best results for the query session may be grouped together as a set set (e.g., in a notebook or a folder).

Exemplary Saved Result Access Process

FIG. 8 is a flowchart of an exemplary process for accessing search results stored at a server according to an implementation consistent with the principles of the invention. As one skilled in the art will appreciate, the process exemplified by FIG. 8 can be implemented in software and stored on a computer-readable memory, such as main memory 330, ROM 340, or storage device 350 of server 220.

The exemplary process may begin with the receipt of a request from a user to access the user's saved results (block 800). The user may, for example, send a request to server 220 via network 240 using existing messaging techniques. The saved results may be presented to the user at a client 210 (block 805). Server 220, in response to receipt of the request from the user at a client 210, may use a user identifier 410 associated with the user to index data structure 400 and retrieve corresponding saved results 420. As shown in FIG. 9, the saved results 420 may be sent to the user at client 210 in a saved results document 900. Saved results document 900 may include a link(s) 905 corresponding to each result stored in saved results 420. In one implementation, the user may request access to the user's saved results for a particular query or a set of queries. In this implementation, saved results document 900 may display links for each result corresponding to each query or set of queries.

A request may be received from the user indicating one or more of the saved results that the user desires to have printed (optional block 810). As illustrated in FIG. 9, the user may select one or more of the results from saved results document 900 by, for example, clicking on a corresponding “print” button 910 located in proximity to each of the desired results. In response to selecting a result from saved results document 900, client 210, via a printer, may provide a hard copy of the document corresponding to the selected result. The request containing an indication of the selected saved results to be printed may be sent from client 210 to server 220 via network 240.

An indication may be received from the user specifying results of the saved results that the user desires to delete (optional block 815). As illustrated in FIG. 9, the user may select one or more of the results from saved results document 900 by, for example, clicking on a corresponding “delete” button 915 located in proximity to each of the results desired to be deleted. The request containing an indication of the selected saved results to be deleted may be sent from client 210 to server 220 via network 240. Server 220, in response to receipt of the request, may delete corresponding results from the saved results fields 420. Other techniques, other than just deleting saved results, may be used for managing saved results. For example, users may group saved results into sets, re-order them, annotate particular ones of the saved results, or perform other similar access and management functions. In one implementation, for example, saved search results from multiple queries may be grouped together (e.g., the best search results from the multiple queries) by a user. In such an implementation, the user may, for example, drag-and-drop the search results into a folder to group them together.

An indication may be received from the user specifying saved results that the user desires to share with another user(s) (optional block 820). As illustrated in FIG. 9, the user may select one or more of the results from saved results document 900 by, for example, clicking on a corresponding “share” button 920 located in proximity to each of the results desired to be shared. The request containing an indication of the selected results to be shared, and an indication of the user(s) with whom the selected results are to be shared, may be sent from client 210 to server 220 via network 240. Server 220, in response, may store the selected result(s) in a saved result field 420 of an entry 405 of data structure 400 whose user ID 410 value matches the user(s) indicated in the request. Any labels (e.g., descriptive text) associated with saved results (e.g., a set of saved results) by a user may also be shared with another user(s).

An indication may be received from the user specifying results of the saved results that the user desires to have e-mailed to another user(s) (optional block 825). As illustrated in FIG. 9, the user may select one or more of the results from saved results document 900 by, for example, clicking on a corresponding “mail” button 925 located in proximity to each of the results desired to be mailed to other user(s). In response to selection of “mail button” 925, an e-mail application at client 210 may send an electronic mail message to the other user(s) containing a link for each of the selected search results. The request containing an indication of the selected saved results to be mailed may be sent from client 210 to server 220 via network 240. Server 220, in response to receipt of the request, may make note of the results mailed to the other users.

Exemplary Saved Results Analysis Process

FIGS. 10A-10C are flowcharts of an exemplary process for analyzing search results saved by a server in response to requests from users consistent with implementations of the invention. As one skilled in the art will appreciate, the process exemplified by FIGS. 10A-10C can be implemented in software and stored on a computer-readable memory, such as main memory 330, ROM 340, or storage device 350 of server 220. The blocks described with respect to FIGS. 10A-10C provide further details to block 525 of FIG. 5B.

The exemplary process may begin with the retrieval of saved results associated with a given query Q for analysis (block 1000). In one implementation, server 220 may retrieve (e.g., from data structure 400) the results stored in a saved results field 420 corresponding to a given user identifier 410. In another implementation, server 220 may retrieve the results stored in search result fields 420 from multiple entries that correspond to a specified query. Blocks 1005-1045 below describe exemplary techniques for analyzing the saved search results.

If users tend to save the same results, then the quality scores of those results may be boosted (block 1005). For example, as shown in FIG. 11, users 1105, 1110, and 1115 may issue a same (or nearly the same) query Q 1120, and may each save a selected set of results 1125 from search results returned to the users from a search engine. For results that are saved by multiple users (e.g., users 1105, 1110, and 1115), server 220 may boost a quality score (Q_SCORE) associated with those results. As shown in FIG. 11, for example, results RESULT_X and RESULT_Y have been saved by users 1105, 1110, and 1115, and therefore a value (BOOST) may be added to the quality score 1130 for each of results RESULT_X and RESULT_Y. The boost given to a saved result may be query-dependent (i.e., added only for queries that are similar to query Q), or query-independent (i.e., added for all queries). Thus, the measure of quality for a document that is saved may be boosted in a query-dependent and/or query-independent manner. These techniques (boosting scores in a query-dependent and/or query-independent manner) may also be used with respect to the other types of boosts described herein.

If users tend to save one or more types of results over other types of results, then the quality scores of the saved types of results may be boosted (block 1010). For example, as shown in FIG. 12, users 1205, 1210, and 1215 may issue a same (or nearly the same) query Q 1220 and may each save a selected set of results, with each result having a result type, from search results returned to the users from a search engine. For result types that are saved by multiple users (e.g., users 1205, 1210, and 1215), server 220 may boost a quality score (Q_SCORE) associated with results having that result type in subsequent searches. As shown in FIG. 12, for example, results having a result type RESULT_TYPE_A have been saved by users 1205, 1210, and 1215, and therefore a value (BOOST) may be added to a quality score 1230 for each result having RESULT_TYPE_A for subsequently executed searches. As one specific example, assume that users 1205, 1210, and 1215 generally only save image results for query Q1220 and not web document results. It can be inferred, therefore, that for query Q 1220, image results may be more appropriate than web document results, and that image results should therefore be ranked higher for that query. Quality scores may also be boosted for saved document types on a query-independent basis.

If users save advertisements shown in response to query Q, then the advertisements may be considered to be targeted well for that particular query (block 1015). For example, as shown in FIG. 13, users 1305, 1310, and 1315 may issue a same (or nearly the same) query Q 1320 and may each save a selected set of results from search results returned to the users by a search engine, as well as save advertisements shown in conjunction with the search results. For ads that are saved by multiple users (e.g., users 1305, 1310, and 1315), server 220 may note that the ads are targeted well for query Q 1320. As shown in FIG. 13, for example, AD_B (shown along with ads AD_A or AD_C to users 1305, 1310, and 1315 in response to query Q 1320) is saved by users 1305, 1310, and 1315. Server 220 may infer that AD_B is targeted well (e.g., well-matched or relevant) for query Q 1320. Additionally, if users save advertisements in response to query Q, then query Q may be considered commercial in nature. In such a case, when query Q is subsequently executed again, links to product reviews or to related commercial web sites or documents may be returned (or a quality score associated with such reviews/sites/documents may be boosted).

If search results contain multiple types of information, then the order in which the items are saved can be evaluated (block 1020; FIG. 10B). For example, as shown in FIG. 14, a user may issue a query Q 1405 and a search engine may return multiple search results to the user based on query Q 1405. The returned search results may include multiple result types 1410, such as, for example, RESULT_TYPE_A, RESULT_TYPE_B, RESULT_TYPE_C and RESULT_TYPE_D. The user may save 1415 selected ones of the search results in a specified order. For example, as shown in FIG. 14, the user may first save a search result having the result type RESULT_TYPE_C, may then save a search result having the result type RESULT_TYPE_B, and lastly may save a search result having the result type RESULT_TYPE_D. Server 220 may then evaluate 1420 the order in which the search results are saved, for example, to determine what types of search results draw the most attention. In a specific example, assume that advertisements, web documents, images, and product documents are provided to the user in response to query Q 1405. Assume further that the user saves the results in the order 1) web documents, 2) images, 3) advertisements, and 4) product documents. This order of saved results may indicate that the user issuing the query prefers web documents over images, images over advertisements, and advertisements over product documents.

If a saved result R1 is deleted from the saved results within a short period of time, while another result R2 is kept, and results R1 and R2 were saved in response to the same query, then the quality score for result R2 may be boosted higher than the quality score for result R1 (block 1025). For example, as shown in FIG. 15, results RESULT_R1 and RESULT_R2 may be saved in saved results 1505 at time t₁. At time t₁+T, result RESULT_R1 may be deleted by the user from saved results 1505, while result RESULT_R2 is retained in saved results 1505. The quality score for result RESULT_R2 may thus be boosted 1510 higher than the quality score for result RESULT_R1 based on the deletion of RESULT_R1 from saved results 1505.

The quality score(s) for results shared with other users may be boosted (block 1030). For example, as shown in FIG. 16, a user (USER 1), who saved a set of results 1605, may share a result 1615 (RESULT_y) with another user (USER 2), who saved a set of results 1610. Shared result 1615 may thus be added to user 2's saved results 1610. Based on sharing of the result RESULT_y, the quality score QUALITY_SCORE_(RESULT) _(—) _(y) associated with RESULT_y may be boosted 1620. Sharing of RESULT_y may therefore serve as an implicit indicator of the quality of RESULT_y.

The quality score(s) for particular results may be boosted based on an analysis of a frequency of mailings of the results by users (block 1035, FIG. 10C). For example, as shown in FIG. 17, a result (RESULT_x) may be mailed from saved results 1705, 1710, and 1715 associated with three different respective users user 1, user 2, and user 3. An analysis of the mailed results 1720 (e.g., RESULT_x) may be performed to determine the frequency of mailings of each result of mailed results 1720. Based on a frequency analysis 1725 of mailed results 1720, a quality score (e.g., QUALITY_SCORE_(RESULT) _(—) _(x)) associated with certain ones of the mailed results (e.g., RESULT_x) may be boosted. Results that are mailed more frequently may thus have their quality scores boosted higher than other results.

The results saved by a given user may be used to boost the quality scores for similar search results for that user in the future (block 1040). One search result (e.g., document) may be determined to be similar to another search result if both search results:

1) are located on the same site (i.e., www.companyX.com),

2) have the same ratio of images to text,

3) have a majority of the same words,

4) have a majority of the same uncommon words (e.g., if both documents contain the word “lemonade” instead of a common word such as “the” or “of”),

5) contain the same outgoing links,

6) are linked to be the same sites (i.e., the same incoming links),

7) have the same meta-data tags, or

8) have the same formatting/layout.

For example, as shown in FIG. 18, a set of saved results 1810 from past queries may be associated with a user 1805. User 1805 may issue a new query Q2 1815, and the search engine may determine a set of search results 1820 based on query Q2 1815. Quality scores of results of search results 1820 may be boosted 1825 for those results that are similar to results of saved results 1810. In other implementations, one search result (e.g., document) may be determined to be similar to another search result using the techniques described in U.S. application Ser. Nos. 10/462,690 and/or 10/029,883, the disclosures of which are incorporated by reference herein.

The quality score(s) for particular documents saved for query Q, that are returned as results of a different query Q₁, may be boosted (block 1045). For example, if search query Q is “SUV” and a document (document D₁) containing content related to sports utility vehicle (SUV) comparisons is saved from the documents returned as results of a search based on the search query “SUV,” then, if another search query Q₁ is “mdx” and document D₁ is returned as a result of a search based on query Q₁, a quality score associated with document D₁ may be boosted. The saving of particular results for a given query Q may, thus, be used as a query-independent quality measurement for particular documents for queries other than query Q. The boost in the quality score(s) of the particular documents saved for query Q may be less than the boost in the quality score(s) for other query-dependent measures of quality (i.e., less than the boost in quality score(s) for documents saved by users who issued query Q₁).

The quality score(s) for multiple search results that have been grouped together as a set may be boosted (block 1050). The quality score for each search result in the set may be boosted a same amount for subsequent searches from the user that grouped the search results together, or for other users. In one implementation, for example, saved search results from multiple queries may be grouped together (e.g., the best search results from the multiple queries) by a user. In such an implementation, the user may, for example, drag-and-drop the search results into a folder to group them together.

Exemplary Document Ranking Process Using Boosted Quality Scores

FIG. 19 is a flowchart of an exemplary process for ranking search result documents using quality scores that may be boosted in accordance with the exemplary techniques described above with respect to FIGS. 10A-10C. As one skilled in the art will appreciate, the process exemplified by FIG. 19 can be implemented in software and stored on a computer-readable memory, such as main memory 330, ROM 340, or storage device 350 of server 220. The blocks described with respect to FIG. 19 provide details of one exemplary implementation of block 525 of FIG. 5B.

The exemplary process may begin with the receipt of a search query (block 1905) (FIG. 19). In one implementation, a user may use a web browser associated with a client 210 to provide the search query to server 220. A search may then be performed based on the received search query (block 1910). Search engine system 225 may use existing searching techniques to identify documents that include one or more of the terms of the received search query.

The documents identified as search results may be scored (block 1915). For example, a quality score (e.g., an information retrieval (IR) score) may be generated for the identified documents. The quality score for certain documents of the search result documents may be adjusted upwards, or possibly downwards, based on an analysis of previous search results saved by various users, as described above. The quality score may be additionally based on the number of occurrences of the search terms in the document and, possibly, weights assigned to the search terms. The quality score for each search result document may further be adjusted based on where the search terms occur within the document (e.g., title, content, etc.) or characteristics of the search terms (e.g., font, size, color, etc.). The quality score may also, or alternatively, be adjusted based on the proximity of the search terms when multiple search terms are present. Yet other techniques for generating or adjusting a quality score for a search result document are known to those skilled in the art. For example, query-independent quality score generation techniques may be used. PageRank is one such query-independent quality score generation technique and is described in “The Anatomy of a Large-Scale Hypertextual Search Engine” by S. Brin and L. Page, 7^(th) International World Wide Web Conference, Brisbane, Australia and U.S. Pat. No. 6,285,999, the disclosures of which are incorporated by reference herein.

The identified search result documents may be ranked (e.g., sorted) based on their quality scores (block 1920) and presented as a list of search results (block 1925). The list of search results may, for example, be provided to the user at a client 210 as an HTML document. Alternatively, the search results may be provided according to a format agreed upon by the search engine and the client (e.g., Extensible Markup Language (XML)).

FIG. 20 illustrates one example of the use of boosted quality scores for adjusting the ranking of search results. As shown in FIG. 20, a search query 2005 may be received from a user, and search result documents 2010 may be returned as results of an executed search. Quality scores 2015 may be assigned to each of the search result documents 2010, and certain ones of the search result documents may have their assigned quality score boosted using, for example, the exemplary process described above with respect to FIGS. 10A-10C. The search result documents 2010 may then be sorted based on the quality scores 2015 to produce ranked search results 2020. For example, as shown in FIG. 20, the quality scores of RESULT_(—)1 and RESULT_(—)3 have been boosted and, thus, these search result documents are ranked higher than other results in the set of ranked search results 2020.

CONCLUSION

Systems and methods consistent with the principles of the invention enable the use of search results saved by users for providing feedback into document scoring functions. The saved results may be used as a quality signal (along with other quality signals) in existing document ranking functions. For example, an analysis of the results saved by different users may be used to affect the ranking of documents for subsequently performed document searches.

The foregoing description of preferred embodiments of the present invention provides illustration and description, but is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the invention to the precise form disclosed. Modifications and variations are possible in light of the above teachings, or may be acquired from practice of the invention. For example, while series of acts have been described with regard to FIGS. 5, 10A-10C, and 19, the order of the acts may be modified in other implementations consistent with the principles of the invention. Further, non-dependent acts may be performed in parallel. While implementations of the invention have described the saved results as being saved in a database associated with a server, other implementations may be client-based where the saved results may be stored in a “cookie” at a client 210. In yet further implementations, saved results may be stored in server-based cookies. The saved results may thus be stored at any location as long as the search engine may access the shared results for purposes of analysis. Some implementations of the invention may be implemented in a stand-alone machine (e.g., a stand-alone client) instead of exclusively in a client-server context. In such implementations, the invention may be used, for example, in the context of a desktop search application (e.g., Google Desktop Search), where both searches and quality score adjustments may be performed on one machine. Furthermore, any alterations in quality scores for search results, as described above with respect to FIGS. 10A-10C, may additionally be applied to quality scores relating to advertisements associated with, or generated by, the search results.

It will be apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art that aspects of the invention, as described above, may be implemented in many different forms of software, firmware, and hardware in the implementations illustrated in the figures. The actual software code or specialized control hardware used to implement aspects consistent with the principles of the invention is not limiting of the invention. Thus, the operation and behavior of the aspects have been described without reference to the specific software code, it being understood that one of ordinary skill in the art would be able to design software and control hardware to implement the aspects based on the description herein.

No element, act, or instruction used in the present application should be construed as critical or essential to the invention unless explicitly described as such. Also, as used herein, the article “a” is intended to include one or more items. Where only one item is intended, the term “one” or similar language is used. Further, the phrase “based on” is intended to mean “based, at least in part, on” unless explicitly stated otherwise. 

What is claimed is:
 1. A method comprising: receiving, by one or more devices, a search query from a device of a user; identifying, by the one or more devices, a plurality of search result documents based on a search performed using the search query; providing, by the one or more devices, a document to the device of the user after the search is performed, the document including: a plurality of links to search result documents of the plurality of search result documents, each link, of the plurality of links, identifying a respective one of the search result documents, and an option to share one or more links, of the plurality of links, with one or more other users; detecting, by the one or more devices, a selection of the option to share the one or more links with the one or more other users; and causing, by the one or more devices, the one or more links to be shared with the one or more other users based on detecting the selection of the option to share the one or more links with the one or more other users, a quality score of one or more of the search result documents, corresponding to the one or more links, being modified based on the one or more links being shared with the one or more other users.
 2. The method of claim 1, further comprising: receiving, from the user and via the device of the user, comments relating to the one or more of the search result documents, where causing the one or more links to be shared with the one or more other users includes: causing the comments related to the one or more of the search result documents to be shared with the one or more other users.
 3. The method of claim 1, further comprising: receiving, from the device of the user, information identifying each other user of the one or more other users, where causing the one or more links to be shared with the one or more other users includes: causing the one or more links to be shared with the one or more other users using the information identifying each other user of the one or more other users.
 4. The method of claim 1, where the option to share the one or more links is provided, in the document, in visual proximity to at least one link of the plurality of links.
 5. The method of claim 1, further comprising: receiving, from the device of the user, a request to store at least one link of the plurality of links after the search is performed; and storing, in a data structure, the at least one link in an entry corresponding to the user.
 6. The method of claim 1, where the document further includes an option to e-mail at least one link, of the plurality of links, to at least one other user, the method further comprising: detecting selection of the option to e-mail the at least one link to the at least one other user; and causing the at least one link to be e-mailed to the at least one other user.
 7. The method of claim 1, where causing the one or more links to be shared with the one or more other users includes: storing, in a data structure, the one or more links in entries corresponding to the one or more other users.
 8. A system comprising: one or more devices to: receive a search query from a device of a user; identify a plurality of search result documents based on a search performed using the search query; provide a document to the device of the user after the search is performed, the document including: a plurality of references to search result documents of the plurality of search result documents, and an option to share one or more references, of the plurality of references, with one or more other users; receive a request to share the one or more references with the one or more other users based on selection of the option to share the one or more references with the one or more other users, the request, to share the one or more references with the one or more other users, being received from the device of the user; and cause the one or more references to be shared with the one or more other users based on receiving the request to share the one or more references with the one or more other users, a quality score of one or more of the search result documents, corresponding to the one or more references, being modified based on the one or more references being shared with the one or more other users.
 9. The system of claim 8, where the document further includes an option to e-mail at least one reference, of the plurality of references, to at least one other user, and where the one or more devices are further to: receive a request to e-mail the at least one reference to the at least one other user based on selection of the option to e-mail the at least one reference to the at least one other user; and cause the at least one reference to be e-mailed to the at least one other user.
 10. The system of claim 8, where the one or more devices are further to: receive, from the user via the device of the user, textual information associated with the search query, where, when causing the one or more references to be shared with the one or more other users, the one or more devices are to: cause the textual information to be shared with the one or more other users.
 11. The system of claim 8, where, when causing the one or more references to be shared with the one or more other users, the one or more devices are to: store, in a data structure, the one or more references in entries corresponding to the one or more other users.
 12. The system of claim 8, where the request, to share the one or more references with the one or more other users, includes information identifying the one or more other users, and where, when causing the one or more references to be shared with the one or more other users, the one or more devices are to: cause the one or more references to be shared with the one or more other users using the information identifying the one or more other users.
 13. The system of claim 8, where the option to share the one or more references is provided, in the document, in visual proximity to at least one reference of the plurality of references.
 14. The system of claim 8, where the document further includes: an option to save at least one reference of the plurality of references, where the one or more devices are further to: receive, from the device of the user, a request to save the at least one reference based on selection of the option to save the at least one reference; and store the at least one reference in a memory associated with the one or more devices based on receiving the request to save the at least one reference.
 15. The system of claim 8, where the one or more devices are further to: receive, from the device of the user, a request to store at least one reference of the plurality of references after the search is performed; and store, in a data structure, the at least one reference in an entry corresponding to the user.
 16. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing instructions, the instructions comprising: one or more instructions which, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to receive a search query from a device of a user; one or more instructions which, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to identify a plurality of search result documents based on a search performed using the search query; one or more instructions which, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to provide a document to the device of the user after the search is performed, the document including: a plurality of references to search result documents of the plurality of search result documents, and an option to share one or more references, of the plurality of references, with one or more other users; one or more instructions which, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to receive a request to share the one or more references with the one or more other users based on selection of the option to share the one or more references with the one or more other users; and one or more instructions which, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to cause the one or more references to be shared with the one or more other users based on receiving the request to share the one or more references, a quality score of one or more of the search result documents, corresponding to the one or more references, being modified based on the one or more references being shared with the one or more other users.
 17. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 16, the instructions further comprising: one or more instructions which, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to receive, from the user via the device of the user, textual information relating to the one or more of the search result documents, where the one or more instructions to cause the one or more references to be shared with the one or more other users include: one or more instructions to cause the textual information to be shared with the one or more other users.
 18. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 16, where the document further includes an option to e-mail at least one reference, of the plurality of references, to at least one other user, and where the instructions further include: one or more instructions which, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to: receive a request to e-mail the at least one reference to the at least one other user based on selection of the option to e-mail the at least one reference to the at least one other user; and cause the at least one reference to be e-mailed to the at least one other user based on the request to e-mail the at least one reference.
 19. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 16, the instructions further comprising: one or more instructions which, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to receive information identifying the one or more other users, the information identifying the one or more other users being received from the device of the user, the request, to share the one or more references with the one or more other users, including the information identifying the one or more other users, and where the one or more instructions to cause the one or more references to be shared with the one or more other users include: one or more instructions to cause the one or more references to be shared with the one or more other users using the information identifying the one or more other users.
 20. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 16, the instructions further comprising: one or more instructions to receive, from the device of the user, a request to store at least one reference of the plurality of references after the search is performed; and one or more instructions to store, in a data structure, the at least one reference in an entry corresponding to the user. 